Personal Chef

Chapter 6

Christmas came and went. Because Shawn was with his family so much, I ended up taking four days off. Sort of. He'd asked me to make a dessert with him for the day after Christmas, so I met him at his condo for a few hours to do that. He'd requested the chocolate mousse I'd made him when he was craving carbs. He enjoyed using his new matte black KitchenAid mixer to get the job done, and he was pretty adorable licking the bowl.

On the 28th I was back at work, making Shawn's lunch. The menu consisted of a tuna salad and half a grapefruit. He'd told me that he'd eaten anything and everything over the holidays and wanted to get back into the low carb regime.

There was another reason he wanted to reduce carbs. Kat was arriving the next day for a weeklong visit.

"Will you be needing my services full time while your girlfriend's here?" I asked as I handed him the salad.

I figured if she was such a health food freak, she might want to cook for him herself.

Apparently not.

"She's eager to try your food, so other than the times we go out, I'd like you to cook."

I nodded.

"And I need you to make everything extra healthy," he said.

"I figured." I mean, duh.

Shawn sighed. "I guess that means no muffins or desserts."

My back was to him since I was washing dishes, so he didn't see the huge eye roll I did.

What bugged me about the way he was being controlled by this chick was the ridiculousness of it. Shawn was in amazing shape. He worked out pretty much every day. The food I made, for the most part, was extremely healthy, even when I included carbs. When he had treats, it was in small portions. He didn't need to be obsessing about this kind of thing.

Kat was not there when I arrived to make lunch the next day. It was a Sunday, but because I'd just had so much time off, I'd volunteered to cook. Shawn explained that he'd be picking her up at 5:00. He said he was taking her out to dinner, which meant I had the night off, so really I only had to work a half day.

The day after that, I let myself into his condo and made myself a cup of coffee before starting lunch. I was making a shrimp ramen recipe again, but this version was spicier and was made with zucchini noodles instead of ramen.

I was deveining the shrimp when Kat walked into the kitchen. She wore only a big t-shirt, presumably Shawn's. Despite having just woken up, she was flawless.

"You must be Chelsea," she said as she approached the coffeemaker. "Funny Shawn never mentioned how young and pretty you are."

She then gave me the fakest smile I'd ever received.

I had no idea how to respond to her comment, so I changed the subject.

"Lunch is in about 45 minutes, but if you are hungry now there are no-carb egg cups and some cut up fruit in the refrigerator."

"I'll wait for lunch," she said, sipping her coffee. "I'm on pins and needles with anticipation to try the food Shawn keeps going on and on about."

"I hope it lives up to your expectations," I replied, suddenly feeling lots of pressure.

"Oh I'm sure it'll be fine," she said with that same smile she'd flashed earlier. "I'm going to shower. I feel gross after last night."